Page 47 of Be My Traitor

“Tick tock, Lucas. Waste any more time and it’s bye bye fingers.”

“There!” I snapped, holding up my phone so she could see. “I’ve transferred everything to you.”

My mother took out her phone and opened up her banking app. She nodded her approval. “Good boy. I knew you’d see sense. I wish we could have met under different circumstances, but I couldn’t risk it. You’ve been brought up by Penelope Donatello. She’ll have turned you against me.”

“No, she didn’t.” I laughed bitterly. “Penelope never even mentioned you. You weren’t important enough.”

“You’re a liar!” My mother hit the glass with the knife handle. “Penelope told you all about me, which is why you never tried to find me. She made you think I was a bad person for giving you up, when I didn’t have any choice. You havenoidea the mess I was in. I gave you to her to keep you safe. I loved you, and you forgot all about me.”

“You’re wrong.” Milly surprised us both by speaking up. “Lucas always wanted to come and find you, but Penelope would have killed him if he’d tried. If you knew Penelope as well as you say, you’d know that she wouldn’t want to share Lucas with anyone, especially not the woman who gave birth to him. Lucas has been looking for his family, but he thought you were dead. If he’d known you were still alive, he’d have wanted to see you, build a relationship.”

“Is that right?” My mother arched an eyebrow, turning to look at me.

“Yes.” I nodded. “I always wanted a proper family. I had no idea you were still alive or I’d have reached out to you. Heck, I’d have taken you in, given you a house, money, whatever you wanted.”

“Stop lying.” My mother shook her head, slowly at first, but then fast. “You’re a Donatello now. I can’t trust a word you say. No, this was the only way to get what Penelope should have given me. I’m sorry if you really did have a bad childhood like you say, but it couldn’t have been that bad. Not when you had Penelope’s fortune to enjoy.”

“There’s more to life than money,” I said.

“The only people who truly believe that are the ones who’ve never had to worry about it.” My mother smiled sadly. “All I wanted was for you to have a better life than I did. If Penelope had given me more money all those years ago maybe we wouldn’t be here now.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered how much money she gave you.” Milly spat. “Stop making excuses and let my daughter go. You’ve got what you wanted. Stop making excuses and set us free.”

“I’d never expect someone like you to understand,” my mother said. “But you’re right. I’ve got what I came for and I’ll always keep my promises, unlike Penelope. Your door locks are on a timer. When I leave, those doors will stay locked for another thirty minutes before they open. I’ll be long gone and you’ll be free to go. Goodbye, Lucas. Goodbye, Amber. Granny loves you.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes when my mother kissed Amber tenderly on the head before she left, as if she hadn’t just been holding her prisoner at knifepoint.

“That woman is so lucky Amber is here,” Milly said after my mother had gone. “You have no idea what I’d say otherwise.”

“I can imagine,” I said. “Amber, are you okay sweet pea?”

Amber nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“It won’t be long before mummy and daddy will come and get you out of there,” I said. “Just hold on. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

“You’re such a good girl,” Milly added. “I’m so proud of you. You’ve been so brave.”

It felt like an eternity before the door to my prison finally clicked open. As soon as it unlocked, I ran through, looking for the entrance to the room Amber was being held in. When I got there, Milly had already untied her and was holding her daughter tightly to her chest. The pair of them were sobbing heavily, the stress of their ordeal proving to be all too much.

“It’s okay. I’m here now. I’m never going to let anything like that happen again. I promise.”

I put my arms around the two most important girls in my life. I heard distant police sirens drawing closer, the cavalry coming just a little too late. My mother was long gone and I never wanted to see her again.

Chapter 19

Lucas

One week later

“Are you ready?”

Milly reached out and squeezed my hand in reassurance.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

I reached up and rang the doorbell of the address Gabriel Knight had given me. Apparently, my sister lived here and this was the first time I was going to meet her properly. I’d taken a leave of absence from work following all the drama of Amber’s kidnapping. Since I’d had to give all my money to my mother, I couldn’t afford to pay my lawyers and the police weren’t happy with how I’d handled the situation, but Milly’s family had stepped in and everything was about as okay as it could be. Amber was still having nightmares and probably would for a while to come, but Milly had found an excellent child therapist and we were working together as a family to help her recover from the fact that her grandmother had threatened to chop her into tiny little pieces.

I’d never forgive my mother for that. If I ever got my hands on her, I’d do to her what she’d threatened to do to Amber, but, thanks to the massive fortune she now had, she’d disappeared like a puff of smoke. There was no trace of her anywhere and without the funds to hire competent investigators, I didn’t stand a chance of tracking her down. She could be anywhere in the world by now.

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